Chinatown in Senegal

Damien Ma Sep 13 2010, 9:25 AM ET

Not my normal beat, but I found this Al Jazeera International segment on the Chinese presence in Senegal fascinating. Not least because the Chinese interviewed were candid and unguarded, leading to comments that would be considered politically incorrect in the west. Around the 7-minute mark, a young Chinese woman, surrounded by a Chinese posse in what seemed to be a karaoke bar, says offhandedly that "I am wondering why people here are so dark and the ocean is so blue." That's just an awkward and insensitive comment, but having had conversations with the average Chinese about race issues, this is hardly surprising (take a look at the story of Lou Jing and China's American Idol).

Beyond the on-camera candor, the segment offers a great inside look at Chinese entrepreneurs making a living in Senegal. It's well worth the entire 23 minutes.

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Damien Ma is a Fellow at The Paulson Institute, focused on investment and policy programs and the Institute's research and think tank activities. Previously, he was a lead China analyst at Eurasia Group, a political risk research and advisory firm. More

Damien Ma is a Fellow at The Paulson Institute, focused on investment and policy programs and the Institute's research and think tank activities.

Previously, he was a lead China analyst at Eurasia Group, a political risk research and advisory firm. He specialized in analyzing the intersection between Chinese policies and markets, with a particular focus on energy and commodities, industrial policy, U.S.-China trade, and social and internet policies. His advisory and analytical work served a range of clients, from institutional investors and multinational corporations to the U.S. government. Prior to joining Eurasia Group, he worked at a public relations firm in Beijing, where he served clients ranging from Ford to Microsoft. He also was a manager of publications at the U.S.-China Business Council in Washington, DC.

Ma writes regularly for The Atlantic online and publishes widely, including in Foreign Affairs, The New Republic, and Foreign Policy, as well as appearing in a range of broadcast media, such as the Charlie Rose Show, Bloomberg, and the PBS NewsHour. He also served as an adjunct instructor at Johns Hopkins University's Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He is currently working on his first book on China (co-authored). He speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese and some Shanghainese dialect.